What are some of the advantages and dangers of GMOs in food products?

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Advantages of genetically modified food products include reliable crops, more food for hungry populations and less need for pesticides. Some potential dangers of GM food products are possible damage to internal organs, unintended damage to insects who ingest altered crops and loss of safer plant seeds.

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Proponents of GM food products insist that using biotechnology to alter plant genes is nothing new, and differences between GM and non-GM plant crops is negligible. No foreign substances are introduced into GM plants and plants are tested for safety. Farmers using GM crops are able to grow crops that resist insects and plant diseases. This leads to higher crop yields and economic stability for farmers growing GM plants. Higher crop yields allows farmers in poor areas to produce more food, which cuts down on hunger.

It is common practice for farmers growing GM corn crops to spray crops with weed killing pesticides that contain carcinogenic ingredients. This practice is frowned upon by those opposed to GM crops. Dozens of studies on certain GM foods show these foods cause harmful side effects to the liver, kidneys and other organs. Weeding out undesirable traits in plants is expensive, and farmers pay GM seed companies a premium for seeds but have no guarantee of selling their GM crops to a wary public, which poses a danger to their livelihoods.